Helping Hand
by JTrevizo
Summary: Sometimes you need a little help from your friends to get what you want. Nathan/Audrey. Post ep. 2x5 - "Roots", ignores trailer for "Audrey Parker's Day Off". Other warnings in the story.
1. Chapter 1

8/13/2011

From: J. Trevizo

Subject: New story - Helping Hand

Rating: M for sex, very light bondage and language.

Spoiler: Post 2x5 "Roots", ignores trailer for "Audrey Parker's Day Off"

Disclaimer: Not mine because if they were Chris Brody would be on a science vessel somewhere far from Haven… like yesterday.

Relationship: Nathan/Audrey.

Summary: Sometimes you need a little help from your friends to get what you want.

Author's Note: This is more than likely OOC for both Nathan and Audrey. But following last night's… episode I felt we could all use some happy PWP smut.

Hi all – here's my second try at a Haven fic. I have other stuff in the pipeline but I wanted to get this out there. Hope you enjoy and if so, please let me know. Now, to the story…

Helping Hand

By J. Trevizo

-x-

Nathan woke up groggy, feeling unfocused like he'd either been on a bender or knocked unconscious; for all he could remember it could have been either of them. As it was he didn't remember what day it was, what time it was. It was dark, so it must be still night. He groaned and went to move his hand to his face to scrub it and wake himself up some more but found he couldn't.

His arms were raised above his head and after several attempts he found that they didn't move. He glanced up in the dim light from some candles nearby on a white dresser and found the reason why he couldn't move: his hands were tied above his head to the metal bars of what looked to be a double sized bed's wrought iron headboard. Startled now, he frantically looked around and saw that he seemed to be in a large space or room; he couldn't make out much more than the bed he was on and the dresser behind him in the darkness.

While he scanned the area he also saw that his feet were tied as well; his ankles were secured to each corner post of the foot board of the bed.

And as he looked at his feet he also noted absently that he was stripped to his boxers.

A spike of fear raced through him and he pulled urgently on the restraints, trying to find some way to get out of whatever situation he was in.

"You are in a lot of trouble Interim Chief Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos."

Nathan froze at the sudden words and quickly searched the room as best he could, trying to locate the voice that was speaking to him from the darker parts of the room.

"You've been hiding things now haven't you?"

"Who are you? What is going on? How did I get here?" he asked in rapid fire succession, his concern spurring the words from him.

"You have lots of questions there Interim Chief Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos," the voice, now obvious to him as being female said, stressing his full name and title again as he strained to try and find her in the room, finally focusing his slowly clearing head on a dark corner of the room as the probable location of the person speaking to him… and holding him captive.

"Kidnapping the Chief of Police is not a good idea," he stated, hoping to maybe scare her into showing herself and letting him loose.

"You haven't been kidnapped… technically. You're just… my guest for the moment while we address your honesty issues. You see, you haven't exactly been forthright as of late. And as a respected member of the law enforcement establishment and Interim Chief, you really need to be a bit more… candid. Especially with people you work with… like your partner."

Once the word partner crossed the woman's lips the last of the fog lifted from his brain and he realized he recognized her voice, which confused Nathan even more than he had been before. It spoke to him daily and even invaded his subconscious… especially at night, alone in his bed.

"Audrey?" he asked, befuddled.

There was a long pause, and he began to worry even more about his situation. Certainly the voice sounded like Audrey, but then things in Haven weren't always black and white. He remembered very vividly the chameleon wearing Audrey's form. For all he knew there was someone in the room with him that he couldn't see that wasn't Audrey, but just sounded like her.

"Yes?"

The confirmation of her identity eased his fears for a moment before those doubts took hold of him once again.

"How do I know that it is really you?"

"Ah, there's that suspicious mind that makes you such as good detective Interim Chief Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos. Never fear, there's no chameleon or other troubled person involved here… other than you."

"How can I be certain? Audrey wouldn't tie me up," he said simply, his hands trying to wriggle to see if he could find a way out of the ropes.

He heard a broken off laugh and recalled hearing it so many times that he almost let himself relax. But then he still didn't know if this really was Audrey, and if it was, what was going on?

"You and I both know there's one way you can be sure that I'm who you think I am," she said simply, her voice echoing through the room and his mind flashed on how he'd been unable to feel the chameleon… if this was Audrey he'd be able to feel her, "But let's put that aside for the moment. We really need to address the honesty thing, so perhaps I need to refocus this discussion… So, do you remember showing up at the Keegan barn?"

"Yes."

He did remember it very clearly. He'd been trapped by the vines in the van with Dave and Vince, listening to them talk about how Audrey could be in danger up at the Keegan's place and the fact she was there… with Chris. It had been the thing that had prompted him to find a way to get the Teagues and himself out of the van and to the Keegan's, improvising the flare/hockey stick torch that had parted the way for them. He'd been expecting to come to her rescue and maybe, just maybe make sure that Audrey was okay and not really dating the mayor's son.

Instead he'd found her in the barn, not a scratch on her, with a solution to the problem already and had been forced to watch her walk out the door with Chris's hand in hers.

His heart still ached at the memory of that sight.

And when the Teagues had again pushed him later that night to reach out to her before it was too late… by the time he'd finally given in to his feelings and tried to call her, it already had been. The next day he'd heard through the grapevine that Chris hadn't left Audrey's place over the Gull that night.

So realizing that his chance had passed, he'd clamped down tight on all his feelings, determined not to let it show how… hurt he was.

"You came in expecting I needed help… and a rescue from not just the plants?"

He gaped briefly in unease at the dark space in the corner as he saw the female silhouette of his partner shift in a chair, her pale, bare foot moving from the shadows briefly before disappearing again. What did she know…

When he didn't answer Audrey signed and continued on, finally pushing the issue.

"And you see, this is where we have a problem Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos. We've been friends, partners for nearly a year now, and during all that time you never did the one thing you needed to do… you never told me that you wanted me," Audrey stated simply from her chair in the darkness.

Nathan's eyes widened at the simple way she stated that he wanted her, like it was a fact she knew rather than a guess, the statement almost overshadowing the fact that she'd now stopped using his professional title as their conversation became more… personal. He was now even more at a loss as to understand what the hell was going on.

"I… how…"

"If I tell you that it was Duke that told me will you promise not to kill him?"

"No."

She paused, hoping that maybe he'd relent but he stayed silent. With a sigh she realized that he and Duke would have to work out their issues on their own. As it was, she had enough to deal with at the moment besides Duke.

"Fine. Maybe after I tell you want happened you'll forgive him, since it really wasn't all him," she stated, and when Nathan continued his silent act, staring towards her space in the room she decided she needed to tell him everything. "It seems that Dave and Vince came and had lunch at the Gull the afternoon after the incident at the Keegan place. They got to talking with Duke, sharing experiences and all that and they sort of told him about what they'd been talking to you about… regarding me. Of course Duke found this all very interesting since he knew about Chris…"

Nathan closed his eyes and bit back a curse. Damn the Teagues and Duke… He knew he shouldn't have gone to rescue Dave and Vince… he could have sent a patrol car to help them. And then with them insisting Audrey might need help… and all the hints about her being on a date with Chris Brody… he'd gone all MacGyver to go to her rescue, only to find she didn't need his help.

"So that evening when I saw Duke he asked me what was up with me and Chris. When I told him, he frowned at me like I'd kicked his puppy or something; I was surprised so I called him on it. That's when he told me what Vince and Dave had told him."

She stopped then, waiting while Nathan strained to try and see her in the dim light. He wanted to see what she was thinking when she thought of him having… feelings for her. If perhaps…

"Of course I didn't believe him. I just… okay, I will admit that I've been obtuse for most of the time I've been here, working with you, especially since Jess. The idea that you hadn't told me how you felt even after you told me you could feel me..." she paused, her voice catching on the last before she cleared her throat quietly and continued. "So after Duke told me, I admit I was hurt and in denial… I would never have said yes..."

"Audrey…" Nathan tried to say, wanting to stop her before she said something that would rip his heart to pieces.

"I told Duke I needed to see you. I went to the station to talk to you and you weren't there. I ended up driving through town before I ended up at the cliffs, just… thinking."

She paused and Nathan thought that it was over. That he'd damaged everything beyond repair because he'd crossed the line and… fell in love with his partner. She'd leave and he'd be stuck here alone, without her while she moved on with damn Chris Brody…

"It wasn't fair… if I had known… so I went to see him and told him I…" she rambled before trailing off once again.

"Audrey, what are you talking about?" Nathan questioned, confused once again.

She sighed and looked at him like he was slow or stupid, or both even though he couldn't see her to read her gaze.

"Chris. Do you really think I could have any kind of long term relationship with a guy that doesn't respect what I do for a living?"

He couldn't answer that. He'd never thought… hadn't even comprehended that maybe things with Audrey and Chris weren't… permanent. Any man who didn't look at Audrey Parker and think forever was an idiot in his estimation.

"The next thing I know its dark, I've left Chris feeling pissed off and angry and Duke's calling me saying I have a 'gift' waiting for me at my apartment."

At the mention of Duke he remembered coming to the Gull late in the evening to drown his sorrows at the situation with Audrey. He'd started drinking his Jack Daniels neat before Duke had ended up coming over with the whole bottle and telling him it was on the house. It should have rung alarm bells in his head but he'd been so depressed about having lost his chance with Audrey he'd been happy to let Duke pay for his alcohol as he worked to numb the emotions inside him.

"By the time I got here you were passed out on my bed. I came in and checked on you and you woke up and well… you were more chatty than normal."

"What did I say?" he asked, even if he had a really good idea already.

"You were very helpful Nathan Thaddeus," she said with a new, softer tone to her voice, now having dropped his last name as the discussion turned more… intimate. "You told me what I needed to know."

"I…"

"You told me that you'd wanted me… even before you could feel me."

Nathan closed his eyes and groaned low in his throat. She did know.

At first he hadn't told her how he felt because he didn't want her to think it was just because he could feel her. Then things had conspired to keep him from finding the right time to tell her; both the Chief and Max Hansen dying, then there was how Audrey thought she was Lucy, then the other Audrey lost her memories… He thought that she had too much to deal with and he wouldn't ask more of her than she could give him… he valued whatever he could have of her too much to lose her because he wanted more.

But in reality everyone around him, from the Teagues to Duke had all realized that all Audrey needed from him was for him to just say something? He didn't believe it…

"So Duke let me get smashed and brought me up here, knowing I would…"

"End up telling me the truth," she started and then quickly filled in, "yes, I guess he knew that your tongue would be loosened enough by the alcohol that you'd let it slip. And he was right."

"So, did Duke do this?" he asked unnerved as he pulled on the restraints, not even wanting to consider his state of near undress.

"He's got a bad habit of putting people to bed in their underwear," she noted, recalling her own experience waking up on his boat, "As to tying you up… I guess he was worried you'd wake up and leave before I got back."

"So why didn't you untie me?" he asked, bewildered at his partner and friend; he never would have thought she'd leave him like this… so… vulnerable.

Finally she stood from her chair and slowly emerged from the spot in the darkened corner. She leisurely moved towards him into the light and he could see that she was wearing a barely there black satin and lace camisole slip in stark contrast to her pale skin; her blond hair was loose and straight and her blue eyes blazed heat while her mouth turned up into a small smile. If he could have felt his heart speed up and his mouth go dry he knew he would have.

"Because I have plans for you."

"What kind of plans?" he asked with a note of both fear and desire tingeing his voice.

She came and sat beside him on the bed, deliberately settling her bare thigh against his bare side and ribcage. The moment her flesh met his all doubt he'd ever had about this not really being her flew out the window. This was Audrey… he could feel every inch of her skin where it touched his and he shuddered at the heat and softness of her body pressed against him.

"You see Nathan Thaddeus," she commented absently as she watched while she ran a single finger down the center of his chest, making him suck in a breath as that simple touch blazed a line of fire across his skin, "Having worked with you all this time I know that you're an honorable man, a gentleman. And the fact that you'd never told me how you feel about me, let alone acted on it made me worry that with you thinking that I was with Chris…."

"Aren't you?"

She swung her eyes to catch his and he wondered if he'd stopped breathing as he saw the raging passion filling her darkened blue gaze.

"He was a mistake. A lonely mistake. Do you really think I would have chosen him if I had known…"

He let his eyes close as he swallowed hard. Was she really saying what he thought she was? That she'd dumped Chris for him once she knew how he felt about her? That if she'd known weeks, months ago how he felt that she would have been with him?

"But I didn't untie you because I thought you might leave before I was able to confront you about this… about us. About what we want."

"And what is it that we want?" he asked as he looked at her again; the sound of his voice sounding foreign to him as it dropped several octaves, the roughness of it only making Audrey raise an eyebrow as she continued to drag that finger of fire along his belly and to the waistband of his shorts.

Audrey pried her eyes from his as she once again watched her finger run along his bare flesh. She couldn't believe that what Duke had told her was true, but it was… and now…

"Audrey…" he said huskily; he needed to hear her say it, to realize it wasn't a dream and that she really was here, like this, wanting… him.

"We want everything with one another," she said as she moved her finger from his skin and he almost groaned aloud at the loss of the touch before his eyes flared with lust as he watched her lick the tip of the finger that had just traced his skin with the tip of her tongue… tasting him on her flesh. "And since it took *this* to get you to admit how you feel about me I was concerned that you just might be too good a man to stay… that you would have woken up and raced out of here, especially after I told you I knew."

"I…"

"Wouldn't you?"

He didn't answer her. He wasn't sure he could. If he'd been able to leave, would he have done so as soon as he could, in fear of the potential damage this could do to their friendship, their partnership? Would he have waited to hear her tell him that Chris had been a mistake or once she'd said she wouldn't have said yes when she'd learned of his feelings for her would he have run, thinking she'd meant him instead of the error she'd admitted being with Chris had been?

He didn't know… She might have been right. But now that he knew that she had feelings for him; that she wanted to touch him as desperately as he wanted to feel her… well… he didn't want to go anywhere now.

"Maybe," he softly admitted even as he gasped as goose flesh rose along his flesh as she slid her whole hand across his shoulder and up his arm towards the ropes holding him in place.

"So now that you know I want what you want, are you going to stay?" she asked as she let her fingers entwine with his and he relished the feeling of them pressed against his. "Are you going to let yourself feel everything you want knowing I want it just as badly as you do?"

"Audrey…" he began before trailing off as his ability to feel her made him light headed as her breath and the tips of her hair tickled his flesh while she leaned over him.

She paused, her fingers still tightly caught in his before she began to slowly pull them away and moved towards the ropes binding him to the black iron headboard.

"I mean… I'm… afraid that if I let you loose…that you'll change your mind; that you'll run from this."

He could hear the broken voice behind her words and recognized it for what it was. For as much as his affliction kept him isolated from the world, besides her work, Audrey was similarly isolated. She didn't do relationships, or at least that was what he'd gotten the impression from all the months he'd gotten to know her. Or at least she hadn't… because she hadn't found someone she trusted enough to be in one.

Now that she was opening herself up to him, to offer him everything that he wanted from her, he didn't want her to regret it, to worry that he'd leave her or hurt her. And he'd do anything to prove that to her.

And his words and actions were what he could give her.

"I'm not going to leave," he answered finally, and he turned his head to see her purse her lips for a second before her eyes slipped closed and heard her breath raggedly exhale.

He tightened his fingers in hers, marveling at the feel of pressure that only came with her touch. As her fingers began to disengage from his to move to the knots holding him in place, he stopped them by gripping them tightly, making her pause and regard him with a serious yet worried look.

"You don't have to undo these."

He could see the question on her face as plain as day. Why wouldn't he want her to untie him if he was staying…

And in fact he was wondering what he was thinking as well. All he did know was that if she needed to be sure that he was going to be here with her, that he wanted her as badly as he did that perhaps knowing for certain that he was going to be there with her would make it easier for her to trust that he truly wanted this… wanted her.

It was just a little bit of control… to assure her of his feelings he could let her have that for right now, couldn't he?

"You're right," he said, and he felt her shiver against his side and couldn't help but echo the feeling. "I wasn't honest with you, for a long time. But I'm not going to walk away from this and I want you to be certain of that."

"What are you saying Nathan?" she asked softly, her eyes locked on his as she finally, simply called him by his name.

"I don't want to you to untie me… right now."

At his words her eyes widened even as the color darkened.

"You want me to…" she started, trailing off before she could actually form the words to express what she thought he was suggesting.

He looked at her and nodded ever so slightly; his eyes were dark with want, the pupils large and the blue cloudy. He let himself run his tongue across his lips… he couldn't feel it but he watched as her mouth opened ever so slightly at the sight and he couldn't help but give her one of his half smirking smiles. He'd shocked and surprised her. He couldn't help but be pleased with himself.

Before he knew it her hand had pulled away from the ropes and was now pressed firmly against his cheek. He couldn't help closing his eyes and burrowing into the supple fire that her touch against his skin caused him to feel. Then the bed moved and his eyes flew open; he felt the silken warmth of her legs press against either side of his chest as she settled across his lap. Her other hand came up and mirrored the one already on his cheek as she smiled down at him.

"Well then, I guess I should take advantage of being able to touch all of you while I have you at my mercy. But rest assured… I don't plan on not having you be able to return the favor."

And then she quickly leaned down and kissed him full on the lips.

- End chapter 1 -

More?


	2. Chapter 2

8/14/2011

All disclaimers and the like in the first chapter.

Hi all – Thank you all for the great feedback and reviews. I wanted to make sure that this was something people wanted to read before I posted the next chapter and it looks like you are all interested. This is the sexy times section so this is where we earn the rating. Enjoy, re-read and gargle to wipe the taste of "Roots" out of your mouths and if you liked it, please let me know. Now, to the story…

Helping Hand - Chapter 2

-x-

Nathan saw stars behind his closed eyes as he felt something softer than the white roses he'd been so enamored of when he'd been able to briefly feel everything again press against his lips. If he'd had realized Audrey's lips felt like this he would have been kissing her rather than dragging roses over his lips. He swore he could feel every single millimeter of her skin and his where it met and clung across both their lips. It was a euphoric feeling to say the least and one that rocked him to his core.

Entirely too soon the woman straddled over his lap broke the kiss.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you how long I've been wanting to do that," Audrey said as she breathlessly pulled back from his lips, smiling at him as if she'd finally found something she hadn't known she was looking for.

"I might," he replied with a matching grin and she caught his eyes and nodded in understanding, her fingers sweeping along his face now, sending little shivers through him where she touched.

They'd both been fools. Audrey couldn't believe she had missed every look, word and action that Nathan had directed towards her that had meant what he hadn't said… that he wanted this… wanted her. And Nathan had let her nearly slip through his fingers because he hadn't wanted to risk what he had, not realizing that what he'd gain was so much better than he could have ever hoped for.

Audrey continued to caress his face with her fingertips, brushing along his brow, his nose and over his cheeks before running her thumbs along his jaw line. The whole time Nathan fluctuated between letting his eyes close at the onslaught of feeling her touch allowed him to experience and prying his eyes open so he could watch the loving and determined look on Audrey's face as she ran her digits along his skin.

He'd forgotten what this was like… to be so totally cared for by another person. And of all the people in the world he was fortunate enough to have found the one person who understood him, was there for him and would back him up always. He swallowed hard at the thought.

"What are you thinking?" she asked quietly as she watched his eyes flicker across her face, his brow creasing slightly in concentration.

"Just how incredibly lucky I am."

She took a deep breath and for a moment he thought she might say something in reply but instead she moved her hands from where they'd been tracing along his face and tunneled her fingers through his dark hair and against his scalp before she leaned down to kiss him again.

This time however it wasn't the chaste kiss from before. She slanted her mouth across his, her lips opening ever so slightly to urge him to join her. Once he complied, her lips pressed even harder against his as she took control of the kiss, plundering his lips as she changed positions, trying to find the perfect fit between their lips and in the process allowing Nathan to feel the wet, soft heat of her mouth over and over in rapid succession. He met her with just as much enthusiasm, his emotions nearly as overwhelmed by her as much as his body was at her touch.

Nathan couldn't suppress the moan that broke from his throat when she pulled back. Before he could bemoan her loss, she was kissing along the side of his face, sending new sensations through his awakened nerve endings. She nipped his earlobe with her teeth and he bucked under her with an audible gasp. With a smile she then laved it with her tongue and felt his breath catch.

When he'd bucked under her at just her teeth barely grazing his ear Audrey had felt so very thrilled at the response. Once she'd known he could feel her she'd always wondered what it would be like… to be with him like this. And now she was finding out. Her eyes flicked up to where his hands were tied and she noted his fingers had curled around the metal bar, his fingers gripping it tightly, as if for dear life.

Worried for a moment that without his sense of feeling that the ropes might injure him if they became more… unrestrained, she trailed her fingers along his arms, giving him the sensation from it as she moved to his wrists to verify he was alright.

"These aren't cutting into you?" she asked, pressing her fingers under the rope so he could feel it.

"No," he answered simply; the fact of the matter was he wouldn't care if he had rope burn in the morning as long as she felt secure in the knowledge that he was there and he wanted her… no backing out and no changing his mind.

Her hips shifted against his lap and he bit off a mumbled curse at the clothing still between them. He saw her hips move and could feel the parts of her where her legs brushed against his but he couldn't feel her where their clothes met. And he so desperately wanted to have felt that motion of her hips rolling against his against his bare skin, to have shuddered under the movement of her hips on his and felt her own response to him as well.

"Audrey… clothes…" he said, his body desperate to feel all of her against him as he rocked his hips beneath her, making her groan softly.

"Soon," she assured him with a gentle smile before she added, "I have so much of you still to feel before then."

He frowned at her briefly before she ran her hands down from his wrists and briefly over his chest before she followed them with her lips and tongue. He groaned as she kissed along his collarbone and dragged her tongue into the indentation below his Adam's apple before moving on to his chest. Her tongue licked delicately along each rib sending wet heat along his flesh and making him moan at the feelings – both physical and emotional her touch was eliciting in him. Her fingers dug into his hips just above his waistband and her thighs and legs held him tightly, assuring him that he felt every single inch of her skin that she could bestow on him.

When she'd finished with his ribs she moved on to his stomach. She moved her hands up to splay across his flesh as she kissed a straight line down the center of his flat abdomen before flicking her tongue in his belly button. Then her hands and mouth stopped as she hit the barrier of the fabric of his boxers. He desperately wanted them off… they were confining and a obstruction between his skin and hers.

"Audrey…" he began to ask, his feelings for this woman overwhelming him as she looked up to meet his eyes with what he had to believe was an approximation of the desire he knew was in his own.

"Not just yet," she answered him lightly before she slid backwards off his hips and then eased both legs over his before she knelt between his spread knees.

Leaning backwards she reached both hands to touch his ankles, just above the ropes and she drug her fingers ever so slowly up his legs making him shudder and jerk at the ticklish yet intensely heated feeling of her touch. Her palms and the heel of her hands pressed into his knees causing him to take a deep breath before she moved on.

The feather light touch he was quickly becoming addicted to returned along his outer thighs before she gave him a cocky smile and leaned down to place a soft kiss inside his thigh, causing him to buck beneath her hands and his eyes slammed shut at the sensory overload.

She was going to drive him insane he thought as she continued to kiss up his inseam coming closer to the edge of the boxers that had ridden up his legs. When she got to the fabric she stopped and frowned.

It was in her way.

Sitting up she shifted on the bed, her hands moving from his legs to rest on one of his feet as her eyes focused on his face and he slowly opened his eyes to regard her.

"Can I untie these?" she asked simply, knowing what he'd surrendered in his offer to let her touch him like this without his interference; the fact that he'd even offered it to her at all had shown her the depths of his devotion and commitment to this and to them.

He nodded and then felt her deft fingers undo first one rope, then the other, freeing his feet. Before he could move to stretch his legs or pull them in she was moving for his boxers, her fingers catching in the waistband and pulling the fabric down and off.

He saw her toss the underwear away before he looked back at her and then followed her gaze to what she was now focused so intently on… his cock. His erection was most assuredly there… he stared at his very erect member and with sudden clarity, as if he'd forgotten how he could not only feel her but he could feel himself he realized that he'd be able to feel…

A single soft and warm hand wrapped around his length and he barked wordlessly as the nerves in his cock screamed back to life under her touch for the first time in what seemed forever and he couldn't help thrusting up into her grasp in automatic response to the sensation.

As her hand moved over his skin he let himself feel both his growing reaction to her touch and the feel of her flesh against his. He had a brief flash of memory of being with Jess and while he'd been able to get an erection he hadn't been able to feel it.

Now, with Audrey's hand wrapped around him, her thumb easing up and away to flick across the head he had none of those problems and let out a moan as she did it again before pumping his length several more times, making him feel the pulsing of the blood through his hard member.

"Hold on…" she suggested before she abruptly bent over him, her hair sweeping across his thighs and groin as her mouth slid over his hot, hard flesh.

"Oh my God…" he nearly shouted as he felt all of his cock surrounded by the wet, hot and tactile feel of Audrey's mouth and tongue.

She slid his length in and out of her lips, her tongue occasionally swirling around it, causing Nathan to grip the bar of the head board tighter as the feel of her mouth and tongue over him made him light headed. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this, as if his mind was

Having found a rhythm that made Nathan jerk his hips under her hands and mouth Audrey kept it up, working him until she could feel the staggering shudders of his body as it fought his release. The thought that she could bring him to climax with her hands and mouth and tongue made her chest ache with pleasure. He could feel her and only her in the world and she wanted to make every single moment she touched him worth it. And she wanted to feel him, see him come for her, because of her more than her next breath.

"Audrey… please don't… stop…" he brokenly murmured, his eyes sealed shut as his head shifted restlessly on the pillow as his body overrode any objections his head might have had; he desperately wanted the release she was offering.

"I won't Nathan…" she whispered seductively as she let one hand brush along his balls while the other continued to pump his shaft; the new touches stimulating him even more and his eyes opened to slits to watch her, "come for me…"

The burning look of desire in her eyes ended any sense of control he had left and he thrust his hips up into her hand and she smiled and swallowed him whole in one move, making him gasp at the sensations running through his veins and nerves like wildfire. She hollowed her cheeks and quickly swept him in and out of her mouth, her lips dragging along his skin deliciously before the pace and sensation and the heat and moisture sent him over the edge and he let loose a hoarse shout as he came.

Audrey rode out the irregular pumping motions of his hips into her mouth as she sucked down everything he was giving her. When he finally stilled, his breathing labored at the exertion she let his length slip from her lips as she sat up once again so she could look down at his flushed, sweaty form and felt something in her chest just… expand and overflow.

While his eyes remained closed she slid the scrap of fabric that were her panties from under the slip and tossed them aside. When she finished, she moved back up his body and straddled his bare hips with hers, letting him feel the heat and warmth of her center against his bare flesh making his eyes snap open and stare at her in shock and awe at the sensations.

Then she leaned forward and spread both hands wide across his upper chest, her right hand over his heart and she swallowed hard before she fought to get the words out that had yet to be said… ones that she hadn't ever had a reason to say before to anyone and actually meant them. But she knew that this time that she did.

"I love you, you know," she said in a tentative whisper soft voice as she felt his heart hammering under her touch, knowing that he could feel it too because she was touching him like this.

At her words his eyes jerked away from where he'd been watching her hand over his heart, feeling it's thumping against his chest after so long, his mouth opening in surprise. Then the enormity of what she'd said and how much it must have taken for her to tell him pulled at his very heart and soul.

"Audrey… untie me…" he said in a deathly serious tone, then softened it by adding to his request, "please."

She felt her hands start to shake as she reached up and pulled the knots loose, fear that maybe she'd gone too far, said too much too soon filling her veins. The second the ropes were loose enough Nathan slipped his hands from them and quickly wrapped both his hands around her face, the touch feather light but feeling to him as if he was holding tightly to the most precious and soft thing he'd ever encountered.

"I love you too," he said just as softly as she had and he watched as the worry on her face drained away in an instant. "I couldn't not touch you when I told you that."

She nodded her head in understanding. The sense of touch was something so vital to being, and she still couldn't comprehend how he went every day without it. But the fact that he wanted to feel her, be connected to her by the sense of touch with his hands pressed against the skin of her face as he told her he loved her made perfect sense.

"I want…" he started and she smiled at him, her blue eyes darkening at the prospect of feeling Nathan's hands on her… and so much more.

He brushed a single thumb across her lips before he pulled her head back down to him and kissed her, his mouth opening immediately and his tongue sweeping out to flick across her lips and then his body shuddered as hers met and lashed against his. Now free of his bonds he shifted her body against him, hooking a long leg up and over hers where she now laid across him, her hands pressed into his shoulders as if to hold him where he was.

Nathan had yet to really grasp the reality that Audrey was really there, pressed against him and he could feel himself and her everywhere their skin touched. And as he kissed her deeper, his heart racing in his chest where her hand had shifted to once again he realized he still wasn't close enough to her… there was still clothing separating them.

Prying his lips from hers was a feat of monumental willpower, but he needed to if he wanted to get the last of the barriers between them out of the way. Sliding his hands from her face he slipped them down the soft column of her neck and then across her shoulder blades and down her arms before he came to the hem of the silk camisole she wore. Looking at the material he slid his thumbs under the hem, the heels of his hands resting on her thighs as he did so.

"May I…" he questioned earnestly, the thudding of his heart echoing in his ears.

"That would be good," she answered him before her hands reached up to meet his, her fingers wrapping around each of his wrists to keep that connection as he gripped the fabric in his hands and pulled it up her body; she only let go of his wrists when he eased the material over her arms and then he let it flutter to the floor.

His hands froze as his eyes stared. All that pale skin that he'd been teased with all those months back when he'd had to cut her from the blanket cocoon without slicing her towel was bare before him. In truth he didn't know where to look or touch first.

His hands moved almost of their own volition to cup her pert breasts. As his palms covered the soft globes of flesh he felt the hard tips of her nipples press into them and he looked up at her in wonder. Her eyes were closed and her head hung back, letting her hair cascade down her shoulders and upper back. The look of bliss on her face as he touched her like this simply awed him.

But he wanted so much more than this simple touch… he wanted to feel her, taste her…

Sliding his hands from her breasts he wrapped them around her back and waist and pulled her down to lay flush against him before he rolled them over so she lay against the mattress and he covered her. Bracing his hands to either side of her he pushed back and then eased to one side to allow him to easily explore her without crushing her beneath him.

Even though she didn't say a word, she made sure that she was sandwiched against as much of him as she could and he smiled at that action. She knew that he lived for every single moment his skin touched hers and the idea she wanted to be sure that he could feel as much of her as possible as he planned to pleasure her with his hands and mouth made his heart swell.

"You are so incredible, you know that?" he asked her as he moved to flick a nipple with his thumb and watched in rapt attention as she arched into his touch and he mouth opened on a silent gasp.

He wanted to hear that sound break from her lips loud enough for him and anyone within shouting distance to hear. So he leaned over and replaced his thumb with his mouth, his lips closing in on the hard peak and he felt the ripple of desire course through her body even as he reveled in the taste and feel of her against his lips and tongue.

His hands busied themselves with touching as much of her as he could easily reach as he laved her breast. One played with the nipple and soft flesh of her other breast as the other ran restlessly along her stomach and further along her thigh.

With another nip of her taut nipple Audrey gave a yelp of pleasure/pain and though he was loathe to move on he did have other places he wanted so desperately to feel and to taste…

He pulled back from her breast and eased up to kiss her deeply before pulling back to shift down the bed and he let his hands drag along her pale skin, reveling in the heated silk of it beneath his touch. Then his hands were there at her core, he head dipping down as his body folded in on itself as he stayed on the bed and bent to touch and taste her at her center.

"Yes…" she hissed as he let his thumbs part her and he stared at her before he bent his head to her heat.

Oh holy hell he thought the moment his tongue tasted her for the first time. Even if he hadn't been able to feel her quake around his mouth, which was more incredible and a turn on to him, her taste would have been enough to make him want to pleasure her like this forever. The flavors and scents of musk and a darker honey mixed with something uniquely Audrey and made him want to suck and lap at her wet heat until she screamed his name. And as he felt her fingers grip his head and hair and hear her moan aloud he smiled against her and sucked against her center.

"Nathan!" she gasped and he felt as if his heart had just clenched in his chest at the sound.

Feasting on her wet heat he decided that if pressed he might have to admit that pancakes were now his second favorite thing to eat in the world.

Under his lips and hands, which he'd dug into her hips hard enough Audrey thought she might bruise she restlessly shifted under the onslaught of his mouth and very talented tongue. She knew that without his sense of touch he indulged all his other senses and the way his tongue laved at her she was certain that his discerning palate was deeming her taste as something he was more than willing to explore down to the final taste.

And she felt herself nearly blown apart at his thoroughness.

"Nathan… please," she gasped as he lapped at her slit and her fingers tightened on his solid shoulders, needing the feel of his muscles flexing under her grip.

"Hold on," he replied in a husky tone as he gave her his half smile/smirk as he redoubled his efforts to feel her shatter beneath his mouth and tongue.

His tongue lashed against and inside her before he let one hand leave her hip to allow him to plunge two long fingers into her core as he sucked on the nub that he knew would send her over the edge. With several deep, fast thrusts of his fingers and the pressure on her clit he felt her walls constrict around his fingers and her fingers grip his shoulders as he let loose a high pitched cry as she came hard at his touch.

As Audrey felt the fire of her climax race through her Nathan watched her, feeling the way her body shuddered and clenched against where he touched her, inside and out. He couldn't even describe what it felt like to be with her like this… he just was so damn grateful that he was.

When she finally got her breathing somewhere near normal he sat up fully to move over her again. He licked his lips and was stunned by the realization that he could feel them where they were still wet from her moisture. He looked at where his fingers were soaked with her juices and noted that he could feel them as well. Wherever 'Audrey' touched him he could feel…

"You okay?" she asked suddenly and his head jerked up to see the concern in her eyes.

"Yeah… it's just…" he replied absently, unable to put everything into words.

"Me too."

Nathan smiled at that and filed away the new discovery to share with her later. For now though he wanted to be with her, to feel that soft heat that had been around his fingers constrict around his cock. He let the hand that was still wet with her liquid heat wrap around his length and felt a jolt of sensation as his own hand touched his erection. The shock at being able to feel himself must have shown on his face as Audrey was leaning up, her hands cupping his face as apprehension filled her heart.

"Nathan… what's wrong?"

He looked up at her, his eyes wet with stunned tears. He'd expected that he'd be able to feel her and feel his skin where she touched him. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever thought that the slick wetness of her core on his hands could allow him to feel his own cock hot and hard in his hand.

"I can feel… myself…"

She looked at him with wide eyes and looked down as she reached between them to touch his hand where it encircled his hard length. She could feel the remnants of the sticky fluid that as her on his fingers and her head jerked up to meet the look of elation on his face. Then she laughed, her hands coming up to capture his face in them before she kissed him, his mouth opening immediately as they celebrated the unexpected benefits of their new, physical relationship.

"I guess that means I don't have to tell you if you're ready…" she noted with a blinding smile and he leaned in and kissed her hard before one of his hands moved to her thigh once again and he shifted himself closer into the cradle of her hips, the hand holding his cock directing it to brush against her center and she gasped loudly.

"Nope," he answered and he stared at her, his eyes asking for her consent to take that final step.

Audrey nodded and traced her thumbs along his cheekbones before she trailed her hands down his chest and grasped his hips, tugging them ever so slightly towards her. As the sensation if his hand on his cock was beginning to fade he quickly lined himself up and then with one swift thrust he was inside her and they both gasped at the feeling.

Nathan closed his eyes and held her against him with one clenching hand at her waist, the other a steel brace holding him above her. The feel of her internal muscles quaking around his cock was just… mind blowing. Even when he'd still been able to feel and had had sex before his… affliction had returned it had never been like this.

And somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered if he'd been right when he'd asked Duke if it was fate to be able to feel just one person… If Audrey had always been fated for him; that the troubles had been the thing to bring her home to him…

"Nathan… " she breathed, her body nearly shaking at the feel of him buried deep within her; her hands clutched at his hips as she arched up into him and pushing him ever so slightly farther into her, letting him know she needed more.

"Audrey… Love you… so much…" he whispered as he pressed a kiss to her lips before he eased out of her and then thrust back into her burning, wet heat prompting them both to moan at the sensations cascading through them both.

That simple action of re-sheathing his aching erection into her depths just broke the last vestiges of control he had and he pumped into her fast and hard, not even considering that it would make this end all the quicker… he was so lost in the feelings and in her and how much he loved and wanted and needed the woman moaning and gasping and arching beneath him that he didn't think anymore… he just felt… everything.

"Nathan… almost…" she nearly cried as he shifted his cock upward slightly on his last stroke, causing it to hit that spot inside her that made her whole body from the inside out tremble.

"I know…" he said with a ragged, uncontrolled and unguarded tone as his own body tightened at the feel of her internal muscles rippling around him. "Me too…"

He leaned down and pressed his chest against hers as he thrust into her, desperate for all the contact he could get at the same time as they went up together. His lips met hers and she wrapped her arms around his body as she slightly leaned up into his kiss, letting her stay flush against him. With the move it changed the angle of his thrusts into her once again, causing Audrey to break the kiss with a groan at the new sensations.

Nathan felt the quickening ripples surrounding his erection as he continued to plunge in and out of her heated channel and knew that with one more burst of sensation he would go over… he was already so close from just this much he knew the moment Audrey came he would too.

Looking at her face, eyes wide in ecstasy and disbelief that they were finally doing this Nathan couldn't wait any longer. He reached between them, sliding his hand through the press of their bodies until his fingers felt her clit beneath them. Then with a quick pressure and motion and speeding up his thrusts he watched as Audrey came beneath him, a wordless scream breaking past her lips as she clutched at his back and her internal walls clenched around his length and he felt his body tense and release, his hips gracelessly slamming into hers as he climaxed and he shouted her name.

They lay there on her bed, sweaty and exhausted and so fulfilled that they didn't even want to move from the spot… ever. But as Nathan's significantly larger and taller frame began to become more uncomfortable than comforting draped over her, Audrey slid her hands from behind his back and pressed them to his chest. At the slight change in their post-coital position Nathan dazedly eased back a few inches and regarded the woman beneath him with the messy blonde hair and glazed eyes and smiled once again.

His Audrey…

Audrey looked at the smile on his face and graced him with one back before she kissed him soundly. The she pushed up at his chest and shifted out from under him, disengaging from his spent cock.

"Where are you going?" Nathan questioned, objecting to her moving away from him on the bed. He didn't want to let her go… now or ever.

"Sleep… covers… under…" she said in exhausted broken monosyllables, so similar to how she often heard Nathan reply to her inquires.

He smiled and agreed wordlessly; helping her pull the covers they'd been on top of down so he could get his lanky frame under them and then Audrey followed, her body immediately seeking the contact of his.

Sated both physically and emotionally, Nathan gathered her into his arms, still drunk on the high of their orgasms and he settled his face against her hair, her arms wrapped around his body as they settled under the covers and let sleep claim them.

For tomorrow there would be plenty of time to work out the day to day of… this, but having finally found one another there would never be another night where they'd ever be lonely… or alone.

- END -

Hope you all enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

8/27/2011

Disclaimer, spoilers, rating, etc are all in Chapter 1.

Hi all – WOW, the response for this was so great I was stunned and touched. Thanks for everyone who reviewed or set it as a favorite story. I'm posting other N/A fic, but maybe more of this story might be a good thing? Because really, who doesn't like N/A smut? Now, to the story…

Helping Hand – Chapter 3

By J. Trevizo

-x-

Nathan woke to dull sunlight hitting his face. He blinked rapidly and found he was facing an Easterly window that was filled with the rays of the sunrise.

That was wrong… his bedroom faced South.

Then he recognized that his entire front was warm and pressed against something and his mind snapped back to recall the last few hours.

The drinking spree at the Gull, waking up tied up… Audrey…

His eyes swept down and he saw her pale skin curled up under the covers and her back pressed against him. Her golden hair was a tangle beneath his chin and in the night he'd thrown an arm around her under the covers, holding her against him, keeping that connection, the sensation of her flesh against him there.

He let his hand softly brush against her bare skin and he felt her slowly wake at his touch, making him grin.

"Hey," she said quietly as she grabbed his hand in hers and pulled it up to press a kiss to his palm.

"Morning."

Audrey released him and then rolled over in Nathan's arms and raised a hand up to cup his cheek. The reality of everything they'd said and done was there with them, but not a weight that was overwhelming rather than a lightness that was welcomed.

In fact as she leaned up to him Nathan's first instinct was to meet her halfway and press a long, soft kiss to her lips.

He could wake up like this every morning.

"Work?" Audrey asked simply once she broke the kiss.

"What time is it?" he questioned back, making her turn her upper body in his arms to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand closest to her.

"Seven by the looks of it."

Nathan sighed and ran a hand along her bare side as she turned back into him, temptation at indulging himself in her skin warring with his dedication and responsibility to Haven.

"Can't exactly play hooky… being the Interim Chief and all," he said despondently and was surprised when she smiled at him softly and nodded.

Of course it wouldn't do for both her and Nathan not to show. Obviously gossip spread like wildfire in Haven. But beyond that they were both dedicated to what they did… they were cops, and it was what made them such a perfect match. Besides the love and affection they had, they understood each other, knew what drove the other person and not only respected it but encouraged and supported it. And today Audrey knew both she and her boss, friend and lover needed to get up and protect Haven, just like every other day.

"We should get up and get moving. We have maybe an hour…"

Nathan sighed and nodded, acknowledging the fact that they both had responsibilities and duties they couldn't put aside for their own selfish desires. At the idea of getting up and going to work, he remembered that he was nude in Audrey's bed and he'd need clothes…

"Do you know what Duke did with my clothes? My gun and badge?" Nathan asked suddenly, recalling that he'd been just his boxers when Audrey had found him tied up to the bed.

"No… I didn't see them."

"Damn."

"Look, I can get dressed and go to your place and get you some clothes," Audrey suggested as she sat up in the bed and looked down at him, his lower body covered by her bedclothes leaving his bare chest visible.

Just staring at him was making it difficult for her to think. She needed to get up and dressed and then get his things so he could leave before one of them did something that would keep them unclothed for a lot longer than an hour.

There was a sudden knock on the door and Audrey rose up, her eyes darting to the door and then to the floor. She slid from the covers and quickly threw on the discarded slip from the floor and retrieved her service weapon from the kitchen counter before she headed for the door. She could feel rather than see Nathan, now in his boxers a few steps behind her.

Gun in hand she unlatched the door and then threw it open, the weapon pointing straight ahead.

Instead of someone there, she found only empty space.

She swept her eyes outside the door, confused when Nathan abruptly groaned behind her. She spun around, gun pointed upwards as she looked at him, wondering what was wrong. He stepped past her and bent down, picking up a folded bundle of clothes that had been left on the doorstep. His jeans, shirt, shoes and socks were there, along with his wallet, keys, badge and gun. And stuffed in the top of one of the boots was a note. Audrey closed the door before she moved to pluck the paper from the footwear and read it, ending up laughing aloud.

"What does it say?" Nathan asked ruefully as he checked that all his credit cards and cash were still in his wallet and his gun was still loaded and had the safety on.

"That Duke hoped we had a good time and that he promises not to embarrass you too much on your walk of shame out of my apartment this morning," she replied with a huge grin.

"I think I might still want to kill him," grumbled Nathan partially under his breath.

"Really?" she asked, reaching forward with a hand and dragging it along his toned upper arm, causing pleasurable tingles to emerge under her touch along the appendage causing him to catch his breath for a moment as he reveled in the feel of her and then looked at her with a blissful smile.

"Okay, maybe not as much as I thought."

Audrey gave him a knowing smile and moved to place her gun on the kitchen table as she stood down.

They needed to get moving… the longer he stayed there the later they both would be. And no matter how much she simply wanted to haul him back to bed and make love to him for the next couple… hell next 24 hours straight, they needed to go to work.

"Look, how about you get dressed and go home and I'll see you at the station. You don't want to shower here and go back in today in what you were wearing yesterday, right?" she remarked, and Nathan recognized the logic of that line of thought.

Showing up in yesterday's clothes and the way he was looking at Audrey right now, like he was a man in love, which he was, would be enough to broadcast to everyone that he'd spent the night with her. And while he had no objections to everyone in Haven eventually knowing that she was his, he wanted to make sure that their relationship was… announced properly, and not through Haven's gossip mill.

Nodding he turned and dropped his things on the kitchen table, and then slid into his jeans and buckled his belt. He sat down long enough to get his socks and boots on before he noticed Audrey hovering.

He looked up and could have sworn he felt his heart speed up in his chest.

"I love you," she said quietly before leaning down to kiss him softly, her hands on his shoulders to be sure he felt her at the same time she reminded him verbally of her feelings.

"Love you too," he replied as he broke the kiss, knowing that things could easily get out of hand the way she was making him feel.

Hurriedly he threw on his shirt and clipped his gun and badge to his belt before taking his wallet and keys and moving for the door.

"Okay… I'll see you at station then."

She nodded and pressed both hands to his face, the touch prompting him to close his eyes as he savored the feeling that he wasn't going to be able to indulge in for at least 8 hours while they were at work. He reached out and looped his arms around her back, pressing his hands flat along her cool back and pulled her towards him to kiss her lips one more time before he left.

The kiss turned long and began to get heated, threatening to undermine their responsible plan before Nathan finally pulled away. With a smile he let her escort him out the door and then hurriedly climbed down the stairs to get to the Bronco and drive home to change and shower… and before Duke could appear and try and dampen his mood.

-x-

It was nearly six in the evening when Audrey finally acknowledged it was time to stop for the day. She'd briefly seen Nathan when she'd got in that morning at around 8:30, coffee in hand only to find him in a meeting with the interim mayor. Since then it had been missed connections and paperwork and always something that had kept them from spending any time together and she was done with it.

She briefly left the nearly empty station, knowing Nathan was still buried under all the paperwork that went along with being chief and went downtown to pick up sandwiches from Rosemary's before they closed.

When she returned she found the inside of the station mostly dark, the other officers and staff having cleared out for the night and she focused in on the light shining through the closed blinds of Nathan's new office. She frowned a little, still missing the shared office space they'd had before the Chief had died, but she knew that at least they were still together in the field…

And other places now she thought with a glowing smile and a flutter of her heart in her chest at the memories from last night invading her mind.

Knocking on the closed door she waited a second before opening it, her head popping into the doorway while her eyes went to the man she loved. He looked up from the files on his desk at the knock and the second his eyes lit on her they changed instantly, the love and joy she brought out in him reflecting there.

"Dinner," she announced, raising the bag in her hand though the doorway.

"What is it?"

"Sandwiches from Rosemary's."

He grinned at her while she continued into his office, closing the door behind her while she moved towards him. She dropped their meal on the desk and then walked around to his side, finding a spot that was mostly clear of files or things and sat on the desk top, her feet now dangling off the floor.

"I figured you were trying to catch up so I thought I'd get us some sandwiches so we could have dinner here…"

Before she realized it, his arms reached out and pulled her from the edge of the desk and onto his lap, his fingers unconsciously slipping over her jean clad hips, memories of his fingers there last night filling his mind. He hadn't seen much of her today and he was feeling deprived of the feel of her under his hands.

"Good idea…"

She looked at him curiously, hearing what sounded like lust in his voice as well as laughter.

"How's that?"

"Won't have to worry about them getting cold," he replied before he pulled her closer and leaned in to kiss her deeply, his tongue swiping at her lips and then plunging into her mouth when she granted him access.

Reveling in the feel of him under her hands after what seemed like a horribly long day Audrey kissed him back happily. Her hands gravitated to his hair, tunneling through the dark strands as she held him to her as he attempted to kissed her senseless.

Nathan noted that her position across his thighs was workable, but ultimately unsatisfying. He needed to be able to touch more of her, and this just wasn't working for that. Summoning all his willpower Nathan broke their kiss and then eased her off his lap, making her stand before him. She threw him a questioning look before he turned her as he slid forward in the large office chair and then pulled her forward towards him.

Sensing what he was trying to do, she climbed up into his lap, straddling his hips, her hands pressing possessively against his sides. The new position allowed Nathan to catch her face in both hands and angle her lips to slant across his deliciously. Soft and tentative turned to hot and passionate as their mouths broke and reconnected over and over, their tongues tangling and lips bruising under the onslaught.

Nathan let his hands drift from Audrey's face and slid them down her neck to her clothed shoulders and then across her back, pulling her even further into him until her chest was flush against his own. Still, no matter how close they were, as long as they were dressed he could only feel patches of skin, and that just wasn't enough.

His fingers went to the buttons of her white shirt and started popping them loose from their holes. She broke the kiss briefly to pull her head back, her hands gripping his shoulders for balance, her fingers feeling his muscles ripple under her grasp as he moved to undress her.

In no time he'd unbuttoned her dress shirt and reverently parted the crisp white fabric to expose her pale flesh and a plain white bra. His eyes raked over her naked skin before they glanced up to her face. Once his eyes locked with hers Audrey could see the intensity and desire in his gaze and knew that this was just beginning.

And with that thought she found herself conflicted, for as much as she wanted Nathan to take her right there, in his new office in his chair or on the desk she knew that they were taking an awful risk by doing this in what was essentially a public place.

"We're gonna get caught," she whispered as his hands suddenly started to slide up her torso, his fingers shaking as he watched her breath catch and stutter as he caused her nerves to go up in flames at his touch.

"There's not a cop in this city that would rat out their chief of police if they value their job," he noted with a husky voice as he let his lips drag along her sensitive throat, causing her to shudder in his grasp.

His hands moved to her breasts, and he noted the front clasp bra and gave her a knowing smirk as he popped the small plastic fastener open and brushed aside the cloth to expose her perfect breasts to his view.

As he started kissing along her collarbone and closer to her breasts she ground against his lap, wanting him to know how much she wanted him and loved what he was doing to her even knowing he couldn't feel her, yet she felt him smile against her skin as if he had.

His left arm snaked under her loose shirt and around her back holding her tightly to him while his right hand palmed a breast. His mouth went to the other and his tongue lashed at the hardened nub of flesh he found there, making Audrey moan in his grasp.

The sensations he could feel where his lips, tongue and skin touched hers rocked him just as much as they had before, even more so since he knew what it felt like to have her come apart under his touch and to go up with her.

The feel of her beneath his hands made him groan. He knew he should take things slower, worship her like she deserved, but all he could think of was how much he desperately wanted to be inside her, rocking into her wet heat and having them both feel it.

Nathan tore his hand from her breast and dragged it down her stomach, causing him to hold his breath as Audrey shivered in his grasp at the feel of his hand on her.

"God, Nathan," she murmured as he quickly found the button and zipper of her pants and once he'd made quick work of both he'd slid his hand inside, under her underwear and pressed two long fingers against her aching core.

The heat and wetness that met his fingers amazed him once again. He let himself eagerly stimulate her clit even as he bit and licked along her throat, wondering if maybe his enthusiasm would force her to wear a shirt with a collar tomorrow to hide the marks. He stifled a grin at the thought of Office Parker coming to work with a hickey on her neck put there by him.

Audrey clutched at his shoulders as she let him stroke her center, making her arch up into him even in their precarious position on the edge of his chair. Yet the angle was wrong, and she needed more of him than just his fingers against her core, she needed him inside her, making her catch fire and burning him down with her.

"I want…" she started, her hands pushing at his shoulders now a bit, trying to say with actions what she wanted, before she slid her hands up to catch his face and pull it from her throat and capture his lips with hers in a heated kiss.

The intensity of her kiss blew him away and he could feel her fingers soft yet insistent on his jaw and cheeks. When she forcefully broke the kiss, she continued her thought, "you… now, please."

Her simple, sultry request made him freeze for a moment as all the love he felt for this amazing woman before him rushed through him. She wanted what he did… and he wouldn't deny either of them it for a moment longer. With his arm still wrapped around her back Nathan stood, taking Audrey with him. Two steps forward had her ass on the desk in front of him and she kissed him again short and hard as she realized he'd gotten her message.

Nathan released her only long enough to strip off her pants and panties in one rushed movement, letting them fall on the floor along with her shoes as he unbuckled his own pants and shoved them and his boxers past his hips. Swiping his fingers through her wetness he then grasped his cock and wrapped the wet digits around his length, overwhelmed once again at his ability to feel his own hardness in his wet hand before he moved to sheath himself in her heat.

Audrey grasped his bare forearms below the cloth of his shirt as she led him to her, waiting for that first touch of his erection against her center. At it they both groaned, and Nathan took her hips and thrust forward as he pulled her towards him, sheathing himself in her.

"Oh my God," exclaimed Audrey at the sudden movement which filled her completely, her hands tightening almost painfully against his biceps.

The feel of being inside her was one that Nathan didn't think he'd ever not be awed at, and he carefully eased away before plunging back in, causing the woman beneath him to groan at the slow slide of his cock within her.

"God, you feel…" he murmured, his hands on her hips digging into her flesh almost too much as he tried to rein in his desire to just pound into her, make them both come.

She nodded, and moved her hands up to frame his face and pulled him down to kiss him deeply, and then pulled away with lust and love in her eyes.

"If you do not start moving I will have to shoot you," she said passionately and he grinned.

"Wouldn't want that," he replied before he kissed her back.

He quickly moved one hand from her hip to brace on the desk and then Nathan thrust hard and fast into her. He surged over and over into Audrey's tight core, causing the both of them to start to breathe faster and harder as they both strained to find that tantalizing moment when they'd both explode.

Audrey hooked her legs around Nathan's waist and he felt her heels in his back and quickened his pace, his mouth moving to her shoulder as he kissed and sucked the heated skin there as he continued to thrust into her, making her lift her hips to meet him. She reached for his sides, her hands sliding under his t-shirt until she could press them against his bare sides, wanting as much flesh to flesh contact as she could provide.

He continued to piston inside her until he felt the fluttering if her internal muscles begin and then before either of them knew it she was coming around his cock, her voice calling his name and then he was coming as well, his own climax punctuated with a hoarse shout as he pumped into her until he was spent.

Still recovering from their orgasms Nathan leaned forward and pressed against Audrey, their foreheads coming together as he released her hip and brought his hand up to tenderly caress her face.

"Love you…" he said, still out of breath.

"Love you too," she replied, and then shifted a bit under him, "but you are heavy and this desk is uncomfortable."

He laughed and eased out of her, causing them both to groan at the sensation of loss as the connection was broken. Then he stepped back, letting her slip off the desk, and he noted with mixed emotions the mess they'd made of his desk. But as he looked at Audrey's flushed face he decided it was so very worth it.

Audrey leaned forward to kiss him briefly before she looked around and spied her clothes, realizing she really needed to get dressed. They both did.

"So, home?" she asked as she started to put her clothes back on while Nathan pulled up his pants and boxers, her eyes darting once again at the blinds and praying that they hadn't had anyone show up while they'd been… otherwise engaged.

"My place is closest…" Nathan remarked, reaching out a hand to capture her wrist in his grasp, tugging her towards him as a soft smile appeared on his face.

Audrey looked at him slightly stunned, having not thought about going home with one another, but the hopeful tone in his voice and the way he was looking at her, so open and wanting she found that there was no place she'd rather be.

"Then chateau Wuornos it is then."

She finished dressing and then turned and started for the door, knowing Nathan would be right behind her, as always, and then recalled something and spun back to him with a smile.

"Oh, and don't forget our sandwiches," she remarked before opening the door to his office and heading out, Nathan quickly grabbing the bag of sandwiches and following her.

- end ch 3-

Well, I'm wondering if this should just keep going, since there's lots of fun still to be had, more relationship to explore and plenty of places to shag in Haven (right porcelingods?). Anyone out there wanting more?


	4. Chapter 4

10/1/2011

Disclaimer, spoilers, rating, etc are all in Chapter 1.

Hi all – I am so, SO sorry for how long it has been between chapters. RL was super uncooperative in giving me any time to work on this. Of course with recent, ahem, developments on the show (holy God that season finale!) the desire for more, happy N/A smut is even higher (IMHO) so here's another chapter! Now, to the story…

Helping Hand – Chapter 4

By J. Trevizo

-x-

It was a quick walk to the parking lot and before they knew it Audrey and Nathan were climbing into the Bronco. The bag with their sandwiches sat between them on the bench seat as Nathan turned the engine over and darted a glance at Audrey in the passenger seat for a bare moment before he put the vehicle in gear and pulled out of the lot, directing the truck towards his home.

Audrey wrapped a hand in the material of her seat belt as she let her gaze drift from the road before her to Nathan's profiler and back again, her thoughts running a thousand miles a minute. Going home with him was something she hadn't been expecting, but it made sense.

In less than fifteen minutes Nathan pulled into the driveway of his house and shut off the engine. His eyes swung back to her and he gave her a flash of a half smile before he unbelted himself and proceeded to get out of the truck, knowing she'd follow. Once she'd unbuckled her own seat belt she reached across the seat to grab their dinner and clamored out of the Bronco, her feet following in the path he forged to his front door.

Nathan got his key in the lock, mentally noting Audrey's presence behind him and pushed the door wide to let them both enter. Once the door shut behind him he threw the dead bolt and turned to watch his partner in so many ways eye him, and then she raised the bag with their sandwiches in a gesture of query.

"Kitchen. To the left through the hallway."

At that she nodded and they both gravitated to his kitchen. While Nathan pulled plates, a pair of beers and some chips from the cupboards and fridge, Audrey took the sandwiches from the bag. As they sat and ate they kept finding their gaze drifting to one another and the real need to discuss what they were doing and what they wanted to happen going forward started to assert itself in their heads. They both wanted this relationship, that was a given, but they needed ground rules and to set those they needed to talk.

"Maybe we need to talk about this?" she asked suddenly pointing the neck of her beer bottle toward herself and Nathan before she took a sip, steeling herself for the next thing out of Nathan's mouth.

"I was thinking about that earlier," he said with a half smile, remembering his mind wandering while at the station to things that had nothing to do with protecting and serving the citizens of Haven.

The way he was looking at her right now made her recall that talking had seemed the last thing on his mind when she'd shown up with their dinner earlier.

"Before we had sex on your desk you mean?" she replied dead pan even as she flashed him a brief smile.

"Well, you were there, and it was there and…"

She gave him a look that made him trail off even as he grinned at her. How could he be expected to keep his hands off her for more than 8 hours?

Still they needed to both be on the same page for everything. How this was going to work, what they wanted it to be… two really great sexual encounters and a few 'I love you's' were the start of a relationship, not all of it.

"How do we do this?" Audrey asked, still unsure of how to have a relationship, especially in a town like Haven where everyone always seemed to know what everyone was doing.

"One step at a time. We can trade off places… and if either of us want to slow things down…" Nathan started and then trailed off, not wanting to even contemplate the idea of not being with her every minute of the day.

"Do you want to?"

There was a brief pause following Audrey's worried question as they both looked at one another. Words had been said, things had been felt and no amount of time or distance was going to change those fundamental things. All it would do was make being alone that much harder. And there was no reason anymore to be alone.

"No… now that we have… this, I…" he said, rambling a bit before Audrey took pity on him and reached out across the table to catch his hand in hers, prompting him to briefly shut his eyes at the sudden contact.

"Me too."

Her words prompted a smile to cover his face and there was a shared laugh. After so many months of ignoring and denying and suppressing their feelings the idea of not being like this with one another was just… wrong.

But being with each other the way Nathan wanted them to be meant being public. He didn't want to hide how he felt about Audrey anymore.

"So, you realize that between Duke and the Teagues that we're not going to be able to keep his under wraps for long."

"I get that," she acknowledged simply.

"So… you're okay with everyone knowing?" he noted and she looked at him wide eyed and slightly in shock.

She pulled her hand away from his, shrugged and then froze as she considered what everyone entailed. Word would spread to Reverend Driscoll and his followers. Wrapped up in the happiness she felt at being with Nathan she hadn't even considered what it might mean for him if it was common knowledge that he was sleeping with one of his officers…

"Will you get in trouble?"

He looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"I don't want this," she started, indicating between them, "to give Driscoll or anyone else any ammunition to look for someone else to be chief."

He sighed softly. Of course Audrey would be thinking about work and how their being together would affect it. But the reality was that although the position of Interim Chief of Police gave them both more leeway to aid the Troubled that they encountered, it most definitely didn't mean more to him than what he felt for the woman before him.

He needed to make sure she understood that.

"You really think I care?" he asked, looking at her, his jaw tight at the thought that someone like the Rev might try to use her against him.

"Yes, I do…" she replied as she once again caught his hand with hers and gave it a squeeze briefly before pulling back to pick up her beer once again.

He sighed lightly and looked away. While he would be perfectly fine if the sacrifice he had to make to be with Audrey was the Interim Chief position, he had to reluctantly admit to himself that he did really care if he was officially sworn in to take over from his dad.

He'd never really thought about it but somewhere in the back of his mind he'd always just assumed maybe, one day he'd take over for his old man… run the department. And now the stakes were even higher that he get the job permanently because if the Rev got the chance to put someone in his place that had a different agenda towards those that were Troubled, things could go from bad to worse very quickly.

And the only way he could see to make sure that the relationship he and Audrey had, would have in the future would be protected was to be up front about it; letting people know about how things had changed between them could possibly give them some support they desperately needed from more than a few people in town.

"You're right," Nathan reluctantly admitted before he ran a hand through his hair as he leaned back in his chair at the kitchen table. "But I won't have the Rev scare me into making you into my dark secret. There's too many of them in this town as it is."

"So, what do you want to do? Take me to dinner on Friday's at the Gull so people know we're together? Hold my hand when we walk to and from a crime scene or to the Bronco? Have me move in here?"

Nathan pondered Audrey's words, taking another couple of bites from his sandwich and then washing it down with his beer to give him some time to consider her suggestions. He'd be up for all of those things, but he had to be respectful of what Audrey could handle. Still…

"Yes?" he replied simply and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay, slow down there," she said with a grin but looking at her Nathan could tell that she wasn't so much objecting to the ideas as she was to the timing. "How about we take it step by step. Dinner first?"

"Okay."

With that settled for the time being they concentrated on finishing their meal and then Nathan looked over Audrey's shoulder at the clock on the wall. It was late already and he really didn't want to waste any time with dishes or much of anything other than holding, touching, kissing and otherwise being with her… in his own home.

In his bed…

A small half smile caught his lips and he stood up to clear their plates, dropping them in the sink along with the empty bottles. Audrey raised her eyebrow in question as she watched him. He turned and leaned back against the sink and graced her with a real full on smile that when paired with the look in her eyes made her heart flip in her chest.

"So, bed?"

Audrey didn't need to ask what he meant by that, the look in his eyes told her everything. She nodded simply and stood, moving to stand before him. He reached out and caught her hand in his, wondering again at the smooth, warm feel of her skin in his. He'd never get enough of her… ever.

Nathan stepped away from the counter and slowly pulled her along with him, knowing she hadn't been in his place to know where his bedroom was. Of course if he had his way she was going to become very acquainted with it from here on out.

Moments later they were at their destination and he flipped on the lights illuminating the very obviously male bedroom. Her eyes swept the space quickly noting the dark wood furniture and the queen sized bed before she turned her gaze back on the man before her.

Then her hands were on his cheeks, holding him still as she pulled his face down to meet hers, their lips fusing instantly. His hands took a second to catch up with his brain and then they wrapped behind her, pulling her flush against him.

Tongues tangled and Nathan raised his fingers to tangle in Audrey's blond strands, delighting once again in the ability to feel the texture and warmth of her scalp as he sifted his hands through her locks and then captured her neck in his grasp, holding her to him.

The only sound in the room was that of their quickened and labored breath as they moved lips and tongues together in a fiery, passionate yet loving entanglement. As their kiss drug on Nathan found his hands drifting to her shirt front, wanting to do nothing more than strip off all her clothes this time and make love to her on his bed until they were exhausted.

"Wait…" she said softly, her hands suddenly wrapped around his wrists as he moved towards the first button of her shirt.

He looked at her puzzled but halted his movements, his fingers resting on the bare skin of her collarbone and feeling the heat and smooth skin there at his fingertips.

Audrey carefully released his wrists and then slid her deft fingers along the back of his hands, causing a shiver to form under her touch. She let her hands slide up his arms and up under the loose fabric of his shirt sleeves, causing Nathan's eyes to flutter at the feeling of her hands on him.

She pulled away, this time directing her fingers to graze down the center of his shirt. Once she got to the waistband of his pants she tugged the material from the jeans he wore and he immediately responded by lifting his arms to let her pull the garment up and over his head. With a careless toss she let the shirt fall to the floor as she focused her gaze on the exposed his flesh of his chest.

With a glance upwards into his searching face she placed both hands flat against his bare chest and they both sighed with the contact. Audrey let her mind flash back to what was around 24 hours prior when she'd done the same, had let her true feelings for the man before her escape her lips.

"I love you Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos," she said softly, eliciting a catch in the breath of the man before her.

"I love you too…" he replied as he slid his hands into her hair, cradling her head in his hands even as he pulled her towards him, his lips finding hers in a searing kiss.

Audrey let him kiss her, even as her hands slid down to his waist and she maneuvered one hand between them to cup his straining hardness beneath his jeans. When he pulled back from her lips there was a questioning look in his eyes and she smiled mischievously at him as she glanced down, making him look as well and he saw where her hand was and his mouth gaped open slightly at the sight.

Damn, it was times like this he missed the ability to feel.

Then she groped him once more to indicate her intentions before she moved her hands to slide up across his heated skin and up to his shoulders, reveling in the feel of him under her hands like this.

Standing there half-naked in his bedroom with the woman he loved, the woman who made him feel, he found himself overwhelmed once again at his luck. How one simple meeting as her car precariously hovered over a cliff face could have led him to this, leading him to wonder about fate once again.

"Sit down," she said with a husky tone breaking him from his musings and he did so, watching her as he sat at the edge of the bed, her hands still on his bare shoulders.

Audrey leaned down and kissed him briefly before moving to pull Nathan's gun and badge from his belt. She stepped aside to set them on the nightstand by the bed and then returned and quickly knelt on the floor before him and purposefully untied one boot, then the other, setting them aside beside the bed.

Nathan watched her fascinated and confused. She was carefully divesting him of his clothes one piece at a time and although he wasn't objecting at all, he was curious about her motivation. She looked up as her hands captured one of his sock clad feet and she could read the question in his eyes and she grinned at him widely.

"I didn't get to take your clothes off last time, or actually either time," she pointed out, alluding to the fact that Duke had undressed Nathan the first time, and that at the office only a few hours ago they'd kept on most of their clothes…

And she really wanted to slowly strip him of all the things that made up the external persona of Interim Chief Nathan Wuornos and lay bare the skin that couldn't feel to her touch and gaze.

His socks were next and then she leaned forward to get to his belt buckle. With sure fingers she undid it and then went for the button and zipper on his pants. Sliding the metal tab down, the material parted giving her a glance at the pale colored boxers beneath. Releasing the metal she slid her hands down to the cuffs of his pants and gripped the hem.

"Lift up."

Bracing on his arms Nathan lifted his hips and Audrey yanked at the jeans, pulling them past his hips so he could sit again even as she kept tugging until the dark denim bundled on the floor. He still had on his boxers and given the way the material was tenting he was certain that by the time she stripped that material away that he'd be more than ready to give her whatever she wanted from him.

With a smile that was a mix of sultry and nervous, Audrey reached across the bed, her arms and hands sliding pleasantly along Nathan's long legs, providing him a range of feelings before she carefully slipped her fingers into the waistband of his shorts. Easing up again, this time without her asking, Nathan watched in rapt attention as she eased the boxers off him, exposing his erection to both their gazes.

Now bare, Audrey pushed him to lay flat on his bed as she quickly unclipped her gun and badge and placed them on his nightstand, joining his. Turning back to Nathan, she leisurely pulled off her own clothes, letting him stare at her as she tossed aside all her clothes, piece by piece in his own private strip show featuring the woman he so desperately wanted. Finally she was down to her undergarments, her bra coming off and falling to the floor before she slid off her panties.

Once she let that last scrap of fabric drop to the floor Audrey climbed on the bed, moving over Nathan and straddling his waist. Instantly his hands attached themselves to her hips even as his eyes closed as he was lost in the feel of her heated flesh against his. She leaned forward, pressing her hands against his cheeks as she leaned down to kiss him hard and hungry.

Overwhelmed once again by the return of feeling Nathan reached up and caught Audrey's wrists in his hands even as he gentled the kiss until she pulled back, looking at him questioningly.

"You," he began, his blue eyes boring into her with the depth of emotion he had for her visible in them even as he turned his head slightly to kiss the inside of her right wrist, "are so amazing, I can't even…"

He placed another kiss on her other wrist, and then a series up her arm until he couldn't easily continue without shifting her position across his hips. As he'd kissed up her arm, feeling the satin-like texture of her warm skin beneath his lips he felt her shift her hips against him, causing his cock to rub against her flesh deliciously and he gasped, breaking off his attentions to her as he fought to steady himself at the feelings coursing through him.

"I know…" Audrey finally replied before leaning down to kiss him once again, his hands letting go of hers to capture her face in his hands as they kissed once more.

The love and desire flooded them both as the need to be together, be complete begun to overtake them again. Moving her hands to his chest, Audrey eased her hips off his before she eased back, finding and then sliding down on his hardness and sheathing him within her depths.

"God Nathan…" she moaned softly as she reveled in the feeling of being filled completely by him.

His hands held her hips tightly, his eyes closing at the feeling of her surrounding him even as he felt her and him everywhere they touched. She pressed down on his chest as she raised her hips, dragging her core over his sensitized cock and making him groan at the slow movement. Then her down stroke brought a gasp from Nathan even as her mouth opened in a silent 'o'.

Several more agonizingly slow strokes had Nathan thrusting up into her, desperate for more friction and more feeling. His hands left her hips to skim up her sides and knead her petite breasts, palming the weight of them even as he used his long index fingers to tease the hard nipples he found there.

Moaning at the new stimulation Audrey sped up her hips, setting a faster and harder pace. Each time she sunk down on Nathan's hardness he instinctively thrust upward, making her gasp breathlessly. Her movements over him as well as the feel of them together fueled his desire, and he moved one hand to where they met and merged together, sliding his fingers into the space between then, winding her wetness spilling over onto his cock and groin. With seeking fingers he searched for and found her clit, pressing up and flicking the digits against the hard nub, causing her to arch on him, her core briefly seizing on his erection as she took in a shuddery gasp.

"Nathan, God…" she murmured breathlessly as he continued to stroke her even as she began to ride him even harder.

His other hand held her hip, pulling her down into him with every downward thrust of her center onto him, and he groaned once again as he felt himself throb within her depths. Above him Audrey moved over and against him and his eyes watched her fascinated as her eyes slammed shut and her head fell back as the sensations of her impending orgasm flooded her. Around his cock he felt the beginnings of her fluttering inner muscles and he felt his chest heave under her hands.

"Audrey…" he said haltingly as he started to feel his own control slipping and knew he wasn't going to last much longer, "come for me…"

With that he swiftly moved his fingers on her swollen clit even as he lifted his hips as she thrust down onto him, causing her to fly apart, her fingernails cutting into his chest as she curled her hands into his chest as she came, a high pitched cry ripping from her throat as her core clenched around him.

Nathan swore hoarsely as his pleasure peaked, ejaculating within her hot, wet depths. Then he felt all of her sprawled against his chest as she collapsed on top of him, her breathing ragged from the exertion and her orgasm.

Pulling his hands from her core and her hip he wrapped her in his embrace, holding her tightly to him even as they both struggled to come down from their high. One hand moved up to stroke her hair as he tilted his head to press a kiss into the soft strands. At the touch she stirred a bit and raised her head, their eyes meeting and all the feelings they had pass between them with the simple shared gaze.

Easing up from him, Audrey gave him a sleepy but happy smile before leaning down to kiss him lightly on the lips. At her movement he brushed her hair back from her face and then shifted them both so they now lay side by side. In the process he slipped from her, causing them both to groan at the loss.

But he could clearly see that she was exhausted and he had to admit that he was tired. Besides, she'd be there in the morning…

"Let's get some sleep…" he said as he maneuvered around them to get the blankets down and then over them.

Audrey murmured her agreement and snuggled into Nathan as he bundled her against his chest under the covers. His eyes closed and as he reveled in the feel of her against him he followed her into dreamland.

- end ch 4-

I don't know how far I'm going to go with this story, so I promise to be very clear when the last chapter is posted (and not change my mind and flip it back from complete again). I know I'm looking at both the shower at Nathan's and the Bronco as appropriate settings, but if anyone has any good ideas, feel free to let me know! Hopefully you are all still interested (and reading!) and if the story is still providing you your N/A smut requirements. Thanks, Ms. J.


	5. Chapter 5

8/8/2013

Disclaimer, spoilers, rating, etc are all in Chapter 1.

Hi all – Okay, I'm cleaning out some fic that was languishing, so here's the last chapter for this story. The level of smut here is a lot less but I wanted to share this before closing the story as complete. Now, to the story…

Helping Hand – Chapter 5

By J. Trevizo

-x-

Audrey woke first, noting the strange bed and then registered Nathan curled up behind her. She had to admit that she was surprised. In less than two days he'd settled into a spooning habit with her when she was so used to guys either splayed out on their side of the bed or wanting to get out before sunrise.

And with the hardness hitting her back and the way Nathan was unconsciously pulling her closer as he registered her wakefulness she had no doubts that neither of these things were happening with him.

However, as pleasurable as waking up with him like this was, they couldn't sleep in. At least not today. They were still on duty this morning and they needed to get moving or they would be seriously late.

Turning in his arms Audrey purposefully ran a hand along Nathan's jaw, feeling the stubble there from not having shaved for a while and grinned. She had been responsible for keeping his attention… elsewhere for that five o'clock shadow to appear.

"Mmmm morning," he finally quietly got out on a partial growl at the feel of her hand against his cheek.

"Same to you. So, it is now seven AM… since we are at your place I have no clothes so I need to get up now and get back to my place so I can shower and change…"

"You could always shower here…"

"And wear what back to my place?" asked Audrey with a incredulous look.

"What you wore yesterday?" he suggested as his eyes finally opened to regard her with equal measures of humor and lust filling them.

She gave him a glare that told him how stupid and unappealing that plan was.

"How about this… I loan you a t-shirt and sweats to drive you back to your apartment in, and you take a shower here."

"Wouldn't it just be faster for you to drop me off and then both of us shower and change in our own places?"

"Not if we're conserving water and showering together," he stated simply, the implications of his words along with the roaming hand along her side informing her that his mind was not simply on cleanliness and conservation.

But she couldn't admit that she wasn't very tempted by the idea…

"Does your place have a shower big enough for both of us?"

"I think we'll manage."

Audrey fought the smile that his words. She had no question that Nathan would make whatever sacrifices necessary to make sure they could shower together, including staying pressed against every available inch of her skin, which of course she really had no objections to.

"I'm gonna go… use the facilities. After I'm done, we'll get that shower, okay?"

He nodded and watched her slip out from under the sheets and walk towards the bathroom door, her pale skin tempting him once more.

Nathan slid out of the bed and moved to find the shirt and sweats he'd offered her. Anything he owned would more than likely be too big, except for maybe some of his laundry mistakes that he'd tossed in the back of the dresser after the cotton had shrunk with overly hot water.

Pulling out the dark grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt he set them on the bed and then went to his own closet to find clothes for work. After setting out his own clothes for the day he anxiously waited for Audrey to finish.

"Ready?" Audrey called out from the cracked open bathroom door after she was done and wasn't disappointed by the swiftly moving form of her partner heading for the bathroom. He entered the bathroom with two towels and the sweats and t-shirt he'd offered her.

He closed the door behind him, knowing that he'd be able to feel the warmth of the steam when and where she touched him and was looking forward to the sensation. And he also wanted to make sure she was comfortable in the space as they continued to test their new boundaries.

Standing outside the shower Audrey stuck her hand into the spray, testing it to be sure it wasn't too hot. Glancing to one side she noted the temperature gauge that Nathan had, which was how she assumed he kept from scalding himself.

"I usually take cold showers," he acknowledged ruefully.

"Well I am not prepared to freeze. Besides, if I have my hands and… other body parts against your skin, you should be able to feel the hot water, right…"

He nodded in the affirmative. It had been a long time since he'd felt anything, but now…

"Alright, let's get in… we're wasting water," she announced, continuing Nathan's instance that showering together was conserving water.

Audrey pushed the curtain aside and climbed in, the warm but not hot spray hitting her and she sighed a bit. A moment later Nathan stepped over the lip of the tub behind her and pressed a hand against her wet stomach, feeling the warm, wet skin there.

"I'd forgotten how that feels," he commented with a slight bit of awe.

"I've been hearing you say that a lot recently."

He turned her around so the water pelted her back and pushed them both into the spray. He couldn't feel it hit him but his eyes blinked as the water caught in his lashes and he stared at Audrey as her honey colored hair became darker as the water soaked it.

"I expect that you'll keep hearing things like that for a long time…"

The implications of his words weren't lost on her. He planned to make this, them last as long as possible. If that was six months, six years or sixty years then that's as long as they would have. And she was perfectly fine with that if she had to be honest with herself.

However the reality was that if and when the Troubles finally left again, Nathan would be able to feel everything, not just her and things through the filter of her… and she really wanted that for him.

But for now she was all he could feel and they were together. More than that would come when it came...

"Let's get clean," she remarked in a voice that sounded like honey on sandpaper.

With that she moved to find the bar of soap that he had on the rack under the showerhead. She raised it to her nose and smelled the deep pine scent, recalling once again his need to compensate with his other senses.

"We are going to need to buy something that won't make me smell like a Christmas tree," she noted with a grin as she rubbed the bar between her hands to get a lather going and Nathan's eyes widened briefly before he was smirking broadly.

Little steps, he reminded himself. First some soap and shampoo, then a drawer with her clothes, and then maybe Duke would need to find a new tenant…

Hands wet and soapy Audrey placed them on Nathan's chest and then began to cover him in the fresh smelling soap. His hands took up spots on her shoulder and waist as he let her palms and fingers caress him, spreading the lather over him as the water cascaded over them both. Every place where her skin met his made his skin tingle, and the fresh scent of her and the soap threatened to overwhelm his nose.

She proceeded down his stomach, taking care to cover every inch with her hands, knowing that he could feel it all ad her touch negated his Trouble. Nathan let his head fall forward, watching her blond head fall lower as she knelt before him, moving to wash his feet before moving up his legs and briefly running her hands across his groin, barely touching his cock or balls, which already were stirring from just her washing him.

"Change positions," she said as she stood, and they moved in the tight confines of the shower, Nathan standing under the water, the liquid hitting his face and front, washing away the suds as Audrey moved behind him.

She started soaping his shoulders and back with the lather from the soap. Her hands ran across the varying scars on his back that she hadn't really had a chance to notice until now and she found herself running her fingers reverently across them.

Bullet wounds, knife cuts, nail holes, the fishing hook incident… cuts, burns, more scars than any man who wasn't a professional wrestler or soldier for hire should have.

And he hadn't felt most of them.

"Has it ever bothered you that you can't feel these?" she asked, running a finger across the nail holes across his shoulder blade, her mind brooding over how he'd put himself between her and the nail gun as they'd run from Louis's shop.

"Considering they would have hurt, no," he replied simply.

"But that just makes it worse, doesn't it? That you know you should feel the pain but can't? That you're disconnected to even that deep kind of pain let alone the simple touch of someone's hand?"

He turned in the shower, his back now facing the water that he couldn't feel even as his hands moved to cup her cheeks. The second his skin touched hers the feeling her touch brought him came to life once more.

"Doesn't matter anymore… I can touch you, feel you, and me when I'm touching you… I'm grateful to have even that."

Her soft blue eyes caught his and before she could say anything further he was leaning down and pressing his lips against hers in a soft but insistent. She only hesitated for a moment before she was returning his kisses, her hand flailing in the unfamiliar shower to locate a place to put the soap in her hand before she dropped it on the floor and they slipped on it. Nathan reached up and grabbed her hand with the soap, taking the bar from her fingers and chucked it up and over the shower curtain where it landed with a thud on the tile floor.

Trailing his mouth down Audrey's warm, wet skin was a new sensation and Nathan found he couldn't get enough of the taste and feel of her along with the throaty sound of her voice as she groaned and moaned with his ministrations.

Sliding his hands farther down, he slid them past her lower back, his hands moving to her hips and pressing them flush to his stomach, letting her feel how hard and hot he was for her.

"Okay, this seems like it would be fun but if we end up injured in the shower and can't get out…" Audrey warned as Nathan ran his hands along her soapy, wet sides moving towards her breasts even as he pressed her against the shower wall.

"I won't be able to feel it so I'll call 911… that okay with you?" he offered as he kissed along her throat, making her groan aloud.

"Then the EMT's will know what we were up to."

"Well, that would eliminate the problem of figuring out a way to tell people that we're together."

His smirk gave her fits but then he was leaning forward and kissing her passionately, even as he pulled one of her legs to hook over his hip, making her gasp at the new sensations it created. She debated internally for a second as she pulled back from his mouth, staring into his sincere, loving eyes and let out a sigh.

"We're limber… we can make this work," she said finally, her resolve broken and he grinned as he lifted her up and pinned her to the wall.

Her other leg immediately swung around to wrap around his waist, her hands finding purchase on his shoulders as she trusted him to keep her from falling. Then as he slid home and her head reflexively fell backwards, hitting the tile wall she wondered if a concussion was in her future.

Of course after the first stroke out and then back in, she didn't care and she'd realized that leaning her head forward so she could kiss and nip at his neck worked much better and made the man holding her up shiver under her ministrations.

The precariousness of their position didn't lend itself for roaming hands as much as other places had, but the warm steam surrounding them and Nathan's body pressed tightly against hers, their skin touching from pelvis to shoulders more than made up for it.

Clutching her tightly against him, Nathan let himself just feel everything, his hips pistoning within her hot, wet depths, his eyes screwed shut as he just felt. Audrey let her hands roam across his back, her nails scratching lightly against the plane of his back, causing him to buck and speed up significantly.

His new, faster pace slammed their hips together and Audrey knew it was going to leave her walking funny later. Yet it was doing everything right, driving her all the closer, faster to her climax that she could tell was just within reach as her internal muscles began to spasm around him, her head falling back as her mouth fell open. With a soft pitched wail she came, only to have him fall right behind her, his hips jerking sporadically even as he gave a wordless shout.

Spent, Nathan collapsed against her, pinning Audrey to the wall even more than before. Slowly his head raised, his eyes opening and he smiled widely at her before leaning forward to slant his lips across hers in a tender, loving kiss.

Only then did he slowly move to guide her off of him, and to the floor where she made a startling discovery as she felt the water that had been running the whole time and realized it had gone ice cold, and she nearly yelped as she moved away from it, Nathan stepping back into it without a care, unaware of the temperature change without her touch.

"You do realize that not only is all the warm water gone but this did not really conserve anything."

His head swiveled around as he understood her meaning, shutting off the cold water before turning back to her, his heart swelling at the sight of her flushed skin and knowing that he was responsible for it.

"Well, except my sanity when we have to spend the next 12 hours keeping our hands off each other."

"There is that," she admitted reluctantly, unable to fight the smile that pulled at her lips as she realized how much she cared for the man in front of her.

"Let's get dried off and dressed. We're going to be late to work," he reminder her as he shoved the shower curtain to the side and grabbed at the towels he'd brought into the bathroom earlier, handing her one as he climbed out, roughly rubbing the fabric he couldn't feel over himself until he couldn't see any more water.

Once he dried off he headed to his bedroom, moving to put on his boxers, socks and jeans before Audrey followed, her towel wrapped around her as she looked for her promised clothes and headed to them immediately, dropping the towel on the bed as she shimmied into the sweats and slid the shirt over her head. Done she sat on the bed and picked up the towel again and looked at Nathan, her heart thudding in her chest as she did so.

"You realize that they're gonna know something's up when you show up to work smiling like that," Audrey said as she toweled off her wet hair while as Nathan slipped his belt into his jeans.

"Like what?" he asked, looking up at her with a questioning gaze even as he fumbled for his Henley shirt.

"Like you just had loving, emotionally fulfilling sex with your 'partner'," she said with a look that spoke of worry as well as pride and love.

"Well, like I said before… we do have to tell people about us eventually…"

"I had thought we'd decided that we'd have a few dates before we had to give the mayor a heads up or something. At this rate Vince and Dave will announce it with a huge banner article on the front page of the Herald."

"At this point, I'd be fine with that," Nathan replied seriously, clipping his weapon and badge to his waistband.

Her eyes widened even as she let the towel drop from her fingers. She didn't want to not do this, but the fact that Nathan had seemed to have decided to throw caution to the wind made her nervous.

"I thought…"

Before she could finish, Nathan moved to sit on the bed where she had been watching him. He sat on the edge and reached out, cupping her face in his hands, still awed by the feel of her warm skin in his hands.

"Audrey, this… us… I would stand on the roof of the station and yell it across town if it meant that I could have you by my side, in my life, in my… or your bed for as long as we have."

"What happened to one step at a time?" she asked, stunned by the depth of feeling and conviction in his words and tone.

Nathan shrugged and moved his hands away from her face to catch her hands in his, turning them over so the palms of their hands faced them.

"Since that first day when I tried to convince you to get out of that stupid car before you fell over the cliff, I think we've been heading towards this. We've been through a whole lot in the time you have been here, and my feelings for you… the fact that I fell in love with you, regardless of the fact that I could feel you meant a lot… and the realization that you felt the same way about me..."

Audrey swallowed hard but nodded in understanding. Every case, every box of cupcakes, every rescue and touch and supportive shoulder had built brick upon brick to the foundation of their relationship.

"So…"

"I want to take you back to your apartment, let you get changed and drive us to work. And once there I'll call the mayor, let him know I am having a relationship with you and it is a non-negotiable fact that they cannot use against me. Then we'll let everyone else know, including Duke when you tell him you're giving him 30 days notice."

Audrey unconsciously licked her lips, thoughts of being here, with him like this every day overwhelming her. For a second she almost let her head talk her out of it, suggesting they slow down, and then she looked up from where her hands were held in his and saw the desire and longing in Nathan's face, asking, pleading with her to want this with him and she found she couldn't say no.

"Okay."

The smile that lit Nathan's face at her simple one word acceptance of his plan nearly blinder her, and she found herself grinning too. Then he was grabbing for her head, slanting his lips over hers in a hard, passionate and unreserved kiss that made her shudder to her very bones even as she reached up to capture his face in her hands.

They kissed for a long time before he finally pulled back, their lips unsealing with a near audible pop before he reached down for her hand as he stood up, pulling her with him. Her eyes narrowed questioningly before he have her that maddening half smirk/half smile of his.

"If we don't leave now, not only will we be late, but we might never leave, and I'd like to actually get you some clothes so you can temporarily move in here and so when we leave work tonight we can come home together…"

"Well, I guess then," Audrey started, smiling at the man before her with a wicked grin even as she started for the front door, pulling him behind her, "we need to get going."

Nathan nodded in agreement as they headed to the door, knowing the next time they came through it everything would be different from here on out.

- end-

So, that's it everyone… I hope you all enjoyed. Thanks for reading, Ms. J.


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